Zen Zen Zo Physical Theatre is a Brisbane-based performance company and training centre which was founded by Lynne Bradley and Simon Woods in 1992. Zen Zen Zo has gained a reputation for creating innovative performance work and training programs, which aim to facilitate transformation and reawaken the life-force in audiences and students alike.

PERFORMANCE COMPANY

Zen Zen Zo's performance repertoire ranges from radical interpretations of the classics to self-devised pieces and is heavily inspired by both the Japanese performing arts and the aesthetic of European avant-garde theatre.

After debuting with the production Never the Elephant (a loose translation of Zen Zen Zo), the company went on to produce Galileo, The Zoo Story and The Way of Mud (presented as apart of the 1993 Brisbane Fringe Festival). Between 1993 and 1995 the company relocated to Kyoto, Japan, where we participated in a fruitful cultural exchange with local Japanese artists. This collaboration resulted in the mounting of two large-scale bilingual productions, The Cult of Dionysus and Macbeth and assisted the company in establishing its key philosophies and training methodologies.

Based back in Brisbane in 1996, Zen Zen Zo remounted the landmark production of The Cult of Dionysus for the inaugural Brisbane Festival and went on to create the critically acclaimed Butoh-based production, Unleashed. 1997 saw the controversial production of The Marriage of Figaro, a collaboration between Zen Zen Zo and the Queensland Conservatorium of Music which was presented as apart of the Stage X Festival. In following years, the Queensland Arts Council supported the development of four schools touring productions, Visions of Macbeth, The Man Who Sold the World, Romeo & Juliet, and The Odyssey which have toured extensively through Queensland, South Australia, and Victoria for 10 years. From 1998 to 2002, the company produced 2 remounted seasons of Macbeth: As Told By The Weird Sisters (Brisbane 1999, Singapore Youth Festival 2002, Townsville Civic Centre 2002, Optus Playhouse 2002), Steel Flesh (Brisbane Festival 1998), The Man Who Sold The World (Brisbane Festival 2000) and Unleashed (Adelaide Fringe Festival 2000).

Zen Zen Zo staged 3 co-productions in 2004: The Odyssey (QPAC), Wicked Bodies (La Boite) and Romeo & Juliet (schools touring production with Queensland Arts Coucil). The company also initiated the Queensland Performing Arts Centre's Artists-in-Residency program, with The Odyssey, which went on to win 3 Matilda Awards.

In early 2005 Zen Zen Zo relocated to the Old Museum in Spring Hill with the assistance of a Brisbane City Council grant which acknowledged the company's ongoing contribution to the cultural life of Brisbane. That year the company also launched the IN THE RAW Studio Season program, showcased each June-July, designed to allow the company to get back to its raw and experimental roots.  The first IN THE RAW Studio Season was the Butoh inspired Those with Lucifer, performed at Sub-Station 4 (with Strut & Fret Production House).  2005 also saw Romeo & Juliet tour to Hong Kong.

2006 and 2007 brought the large-scale promenade performances of Sub Con Warrior 1 and the Matilda Award-nominated production Dracula, both playing to sold-out houses.

During this time the company also performed at the 8th World Shakespeare Congress, the Australian Business Arts Foundation State Awards, the Drama Australia Conference, the Coolum Kite Festival, iOrpheus at Southbank, The Golden Show with Dairakudakan in Japan, and in concert with the American band The Dresden Dolls in both Brisbane and London.

In 2008, after 16 years of operation and in acknowledgement of the company's contribution to the arts, Zen Zen Zo was awarded infrastructural funding from Arts Queensland.  In 2008 the company has also produced two new major works, Zeitgeist and Sub-Con Warrior 2.0, both of which have been designed to tour.  In August, 15 Zen Zen Zo members returned to Japan to further the collaboration with Japanese Butoh company Dairakudakan, performing in The Golden Show.  The 5-year partnership with the ESF International Schools in Hong Kong also resulted in 3 Zen Zen Zo-directed shows in 2008 in Hong Kong - Fa Hoi Fu Kwai, The Tempest, and War of the Worlds.

TRAINING CENTRE

Zen Zen Zo is now one of the largest physical theatre training centres in the Southern Hemisphere.  Over the progression of the company's history, Zen Zen Zo has developed a series of innovative intensive programs, as well as offering year-round actor training classes for adults and young people.  Zen Zen Zo's In-Schools Program, which has been in operation since 1998, is now one of the largest providers of drama workshops and residencies in Queensland.

Zen Zen Zo offers a range of intensive adult training programs including: Stomping Ground summer intensive training program (established in 1999), Teachers' Training Course for secondary school educators (est. 2001), a very popular and highly competitive 6-month Company Internship for emerging and established artists (est. 2003), Winter Stomp Bootcamp (est. 2005), and a series of week long-long intensives held around Australia and abroad - Sydney Stomp, Melbourne Stomp, Darwin Stomp, Adelaide Stomp, and Vancouver Stomp (est. 2006-2008).

The company's weekly actor-training classes, now held in both Brisbane and Melbourne all year round, include Physical Actor Training (the Suzuki Method + Viewpoints), Butoh Dance-Theatre, Meisner, and Youth Physical Theatre Training (for 14-18 year olds). 

Zen Zen Zo also travels regularly to Hong Kong to conduct teaching and directing residencies.